The present invention relates to a magnetic device having four cylindrical, center face charged, magnetic bodies disposed in an array of alternating polarity and contained in a holder. The invention also relates to a method for using the magnetic device to suppress the firing of action potentials of mammalian sensory neurons.
There is a difference in electrical potential across the cell membrane of a sensory neuron, or nerve cell. When a neuron receives an impulse transmitted from another neuron, the electric potential difference across the cell membrane is dramatically reduced and generally reverses. This reduction and reversal of potential is referred to as the firing of the neuron's action potential. If such action potential firings are suppressed, the transmission of nerve impulses are also suppressed.
Magnetic stimulation of nerve cells has been accomplished with devices such as the Cadwell Magneto-Electric Stimulator (MES-10) manufactured by Cadwell Laboratories, Inc. of Kennewick, Wash. Recent studies indicate that static magnetic fields can alter the behavior of nerve tissues. In a study described in Hong, Harmon & Yu: Static Magnetic Field Influence on Rat Tail Nerve Function, 67 Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 746-49 (1986), a homogenous static magnetic field with a magnitude of greater than 0.5 Tesla (T) was found to alter nerve function when applied for a duration of at least 30 s. The Hong study postulates that an electromagnetic field may relieve pain by selectively increasing the excitability of large nerve fibers, which (according to the gate control theory) may block the gate for pain. This study also suggests that static magnetic fields alter nerve function by stabilizing nerve cell membranes and the permeability of the membranes to certain ions whose transmission through the cell membrane results in the firing of action potentials.
Pain sensations can be a result of improper nerve function, as when such pain is caused by inordinately excitable nerve cells or by nerve cells having cell wall membranes that leak ions. Pain sensations may also be caused by damaged nerve cells. For example, nerve cells can be damaged by post-operative scarring or by physical impingement, commonly associated with degenerative disc disease. Even when nerves function properly, chronic pain sensations are initiated through nerve cells. Thus, new ways of altering nerve cell function, as for example by stabilizing nerve cell wall membranes, may facilitate treatment of pain.